Thursday 25 Nov 2004

“A KEY MILESTONE TO A NEW RAILWAY” – PUBLICATION OF THE RAILWAYS BILL WELCOMED

Region & Route:
National
Network Rail has welcomed the publication today of the Railways Bill as a key milestone in the creation of the new railway structure outlined in the Rail White Paper. Amongst the key provisions of the Bill are
  • the abolition of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) and the transfer of its strategic responsibilities and financial obligations to the Secretary of State.
  • bringing the regulation of all aspects of the rail industry together under the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) as a single independent public regulator, which will encompass safety, performance and cost regulation.
  Other elements of the implementation of the White Paper, such as giving Network Rail enhanced responsibilities for overall industry planning and performance, are being delivered through other means, notably the agreement of a revised Network Code which is being led by the ORR. Speaking about the publication of the Bill, Network Rail Chief Executive John Armitt said: “The publication of the Bill so soon after the Queen’s Speech is a very welcome sign of the momentum behind the implementation of the White Paper, and a key milestone to the delivery of a new railway. Clearly we need to study the provisions of the Bill in detail, but in general terms we give it a warm welcome. “Once the Bill is enacted, and the other changes envisaged in the White Paper introduced, the railway will have a simpler, stronger and more coherent structure. Network Rail and the train operators will be working together much more closely at a local level to deliver what everyone wants to see – a more efficient railway giving a better service to passengers.”

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We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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